MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippines effort to import 275,000 tons (250,000 metric tons) of rice to make up for shortages caused by back-to-back storms has elicited the lowest offers from South Korean and Vietnamese companies, the government said Wednesday.

MANILA - A palace fiat putting a cap on oil prices in Luzon in the wake of calamities should be lifted soon given that only the wealthy benefit from the directive, a presidential adviser said yesterday.

The number of Filipino families which consider themselves as "mahirap" or poor has continued to increase this year, a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Self-rated poverty — respondents are asked to class themselves as poor, not poor or on the borderline — was at 53 percent in September, up from June's 50 percent and equivalent to some 9.7 million families.

A Palace official blamed the economic slowdown, and raised the prospect of the rate further increasing as two strong storms devastated parts of the country after the poll was staged.

But the result of the latest survey, made exclusive to BusinessWorld, was still lower than last year's peak (59 percent, June) and the Arroyo administration's record of 66 percent (hit three times, the last being September 2002).

The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is holding talks with the employers of 89 Filipino caregivers who stopped working after accusing their employer of contract violations, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

Rep. Antonio Cuenco of the South District of Cebu City denies reports that he will be supporting the presidential bid of Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro to ensure that he would be appointed ambassador to Italy.

Who still wants Chiz? Despite Senator Francis Escudero's rejection of a team up with Senator Manuel Villar, the Nacionalista Party is still talking to the young lawmaker about the possibility of him becoming its vice presidential bet, according to the party's spokesperson.

From Ate Vi to Edu. With Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos out of the picture and Sen. Loren Legarda yet to give her nod, the ruling coalition is eyeing TV game show host and actor Edu Manzano as its candidate for Vice President.

In pushing for every citizen's right to vote, Commission on Human Rights chairman Leila de Lima said Wednesday that even convicts serving less than a year should be allowed to exercise their right to suffrage after years of being disenfranchised.

Despite warnings about the legal implications of his action, Consolacion Mayor Avelino Gungob has cut off the power of the town's police station. It is an act, which he said, was meant to send a strong signal to the police not to belittle his authority.

A BRIEF ruckus erupted outside a coffee shop at a mall yesterday as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 operatives forcibly took into custody a former mayor who reportedly resisted arrest by attacking an NBI agent.

Former Compostela mayor Gilbert Wagas was brought to the NBI headquarters in handcuffs, arrested by virtue of a bench warrant issued on July 2, 2003 following his Oct. 8, 2001 conviction for malversation before the Sandiganbayan.

Gilbert was charged with malversation of P376,618.65 in public funds. He was charged with then Compostela municipal treasurer Dominador Maravillas Jr. They pleaded not guilty.

"(The Sandiganbayan) stayed that decision. He is being arrested twice for the same case," incumbent Compostela Mayor Ritchie Wagas said. Ritchie, Gilbert's younger brother, went to the NBI headquarters yesterday afternoon after hearing of the arrest.

In a press conference later, Gilbert said the he is blaming the Duranos for his arrest.

The libel charges filed by lawyer Augusto Go, whose family owns the University of Cebu, against his niece Elizabeth Locke Gotianuy, has already been forwarded and upgraded into a formal criminal case before the Regional Trial Court after the Department of Justice has reversed and set aside the decision of the city prosecutors office in dismissing the case.

THE three young Cebuano activists who were arrested in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental last month were released from detention yesterday afternoon, after a prosecutor dismissed the complaint against them.

MANILA - The leader of the robbery gang which hit posh Greenbelt 5 mall in Makati City last October 18 was not only slippery to authorities but had his face changed through plastic surgery to evade police detection, a confessed member of the Alvin Flores gang admitted Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine government on Wednesday challenged the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leadership to prove its sincerity in offering help to authorities in tracking down kidnapped Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott by producing the MILF commander alleged to be detaining the Irish priest.

(UPDATE 2) The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is considering filing a complaint against the Philippine government after Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno tagged a Moro rebel commander as responsible for the kidnapping of Irish priest Michael Sinnott.

MANILA - Newly-apponted Presidential Peace Adviser Anabelle Abaya on Wednesday called for a halt in fingerpointing between government officials and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) over the kidnapping of Irish missionary Fr. Michael Sinnott.

Favoring government decision to turn down the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's offer to help free Columban priest Fr. Michael Sinnott, the military said troops on the ground will have more "free hand" in operating in areas the kidnappers were believed to be hiding the priest.

MANILA - The Philippines has sent hundreds of armed policemen to the southern region of Mindanao to force the release of a kidnapped Irish priest after rejecting an offer of help from Muslim rebels, officials said on Wednesday.

MANILA - Banks placed under receivership of Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) should be liquidated outright, the state agency said on Wednesday, as it believes rehabilitation is no longer a viable option for institutions ordered to shut down because of financial distress.

Speaker Prospero Nograles has taken the cudgels for his colleagues in the House of Representatives who are under attack for flying to the US to watch the bout between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto on November 15.

While admitting that Malacañang is powerless to stop them, a Palace official on Wednesday sought to dissuade lawmakers from going to Las Vegas to watch boxing icon Manny Pacquiao mix it up with Puerto Rico"s Miguel Cotto.

MANILA, Philippines – The Metro Manila Film Festival of the Philippines (MMFFP) executive committee today appealed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to exempt actor-candidates performing in official Film Fest entries from the election ban.

MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) legal chief admitted Wednesday they are in a quandary with respect to the petition filed by actress Ara Mina asking the poll body to allow her to appear on television even after she files her certificate of candidacy (COC) later this month.

GUANGZHOU (AP) — President Barack Obama's half brother has broken his media silence to discuss his new novel — the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — John Lennon's widow and two sons are donating the proceeds from the 40th anniversary release of the hit "Give Peace a Chance" to a UN peacebuilding fund used to help countries emerging from conflict, the fund announced Tuesday.